Welcome to PROVENCE TODAY, a blog about life and politics in France.
In our search for the ideal place to retire, my husband and I settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1998 and have never stopped learning about this fascinating country that has become our permanent home. While this blog deals with the socio-political aspects of France, my book "Taking Root in Provence" focuses on the pleasures and paradoxes of daily life in sunny Provence.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

GOOD NEWS-BAD NEWS; TEFAF; SCHOOL REFORM; FRANGLAIS

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

First the good news:French airplane manufacturer Airbus
beat rival Boeing in a bid to build 234 medium-range jets for Indonesia's
budget carrier Lion Air, a record order for Airbus in this rapidly expanding
Asian market. At a signing ceremony with the presidents of Lion Air and Airbus at the Elysée Palace on March 18th, a
beaming President Hollande announced that this contract, worth 18.4 billion
euros ($23.8 billion), would create 5000 jobs in France over the next ten years.

Unfortunately, bad news was soon to follow.

March turned into a month of turmoilin Italy,
where the late-February elections resulted in a deadlock which to date has not
been resolved; and in France the late-March unemployment figures showed another increase, for the 22nd consecutive
month, bringing unemployment to just under 11% today. Instead of a hoped-for improvement following some of Hollande's initiatives, these bad numbers caused a loss of confidence in the government's job-creating policies and President Hollande was called upon
to explain himself.

François Hollande in the hot seat

In a long prime-time interview on French television he tried
to lift the prevailing mood of gloom and to reassure those who fear that France
is on a downhill slide with a shrinking job market and a loss of purchasing
power. "I have a box full of tools to combat these problems and I mean to
use every single one of them" was the answer, which according to the
morning-after press does not seem to have reassured either the right or the
left. Forced by the financial crisis and by Europe
to reduce public spending, which the socialists who put him in office find
difficult to accept, he was quick to point out that he would not touch the
generous allocations familiales (child
premiums) but may have to ask people to work longer before retiring (currently
at age 62) because our life expectancy is longer.

He also announced that his planned 75% tax on the rich,
which was rejected by the constitutional court, is back in a different
form:this time, those executives who
earn salaries of more than €1 million will be taxed at 75% on the portion above
1 million but it is their employer who will pay the tax. This came as a
surprise to employers and made Laurence Parisot, president of the MEDEF
(association of French businesses), ask: "what about those who are self employed,
such as artists, who earn more than one million by their own efforts? Are they also taxed at 75%?" She called the measure "strange" and one more
anti-business move at a difficult time when French companies already are over-burdened
by social charges.

Overall, Hollande's policies were seen as mini-measures considered
by the left as insufficient and by the right as deepening the crisis. Before
this television interview the president's approval rating was at an all-time
low of 22%. So far, nothing indicates that his explanations have improved his
standing.

TEFAF

We just came back from The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) which
takes place in Maastricht, Holland, every year in March. Here, in the midst of
the impressive floral decor and the wealth of museum-quality art on offer, one
may be excused for asking: "What crisis?"

For ten days, some 260 exhibitors from 20 countries sell their
vetted best here to museum directors, collectors and art lovers, and as always
I felt I was in a virtual museum where you are allowed to touch and where
experts are happy to answer questions. Yes, they really are willing to take
that charming Brueghel off the wall so that you can see the back, or to let you
take pictures everywhere. About 5 billion dollars worth of art from all periods
is on display here − antiquities, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculptures,
silver, china, furniture and objects − about 35,000 items in all.

Peacock brooch, 120+ carats

And if you
like jewelry, this is your candy store, with eye-popping creations that some
may find beautiful and others vulgar. One particular piece − a
peacock pin at Graff Diamonds, London − had a price tag of $100 million, which may or may not include a bodyguard. Alright, it buys you 120.81 carats of colored and white diamonds, but where does a girl wear it?

Every year there is one particular crowd pleaser, which this
time was Jeff Koons's Metallic Venus at Gagosian Gallery. At nearly nine feet and 1200 kilos of shiny blue-green stainless steel she was hard to
overlook. Even with a price tag of $6 million, the burly security guard stationed
next to it seemed de trop. Who would
run off with this big girl?

Metallic Venus, Jeff Koons

One of the exhibitors told me "the crisis" did
have an effect in that buyers were more cautious this year than usual and
sought the security of big names, both in old masters and in modern art. Even
so, top pieces sold at top prices, perhaps because after a few lean years
museums' coffers seem to be flush again with new endowments and quite a few of
them −
the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, the
Wadsworth Atheneum of Hartford, CT, the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Getty
Museum of Los Angeles and others − bought paintings and rare objects for
their collections.

A smallish airport near Maastricht which can accommodate 400
private planes during the fair saw only 120 private planes this year. Perhaps
some of the Russian oligarchs with money in Cypriot banks decided to stay home
this year.

EASTER HOLIDAY... (*)

Yesterday, Good Friday, was the first day of the Easter
exodus when the French leave in droves to spend two weeks away from home. A weekend rouge has been announced on the roads,
and airports and train stations expect big crowds. It seems like only yesterday
that French school children returned from a two-week winter break, resulting in
similar traffic overload.

and SCHOOL VACATIONS

The French have more time off than anyone else I know and
they just don't like to stay home. Employees have a minimum of five weeks paid
vacation a year, augmented by overtime (over 35 hours a week) paid out in
additional days off. School children have nine weeks of summer vacation plus
four 2-week breaks throughout the school year. Attending school only four days
a week, a French primary school student spends a total of 144 days per year in
class, according to an OECD study, compared with a European average of 187
days.

Vincent Peillon, Minister of Education

With their 4-day-a-week school schedule French kids have 6
hours of class per day which according to child psychologists it too much for
young minds, and Vincent Peillon, Minister of Education, has announced a plan
to shorten the school day and go back to the 4-1/2 day schedule to alleviate class work and bring the French system in line with other European
countries.

But nothing is simple in France, least of all les réformes. A number of school
areas have already announced that they will not implement the new system in
September 2013 (e.g., Marseilles, Lyon: NON) while others will (e.g., Paris,
Nantes: OUI). After an initial year of two different weekly schedules, all
schools are expected to follow the new rules by September 2014, but several teachers
unions, mayors and even parents have already indicated that they have not
said their last word yet. Expect confusion, and stay tuned.

FRANGLAIS

The latest computer term to have entered the French language
is "liker" which is the act of checking off the like box on Facebook. One French respondent wrote that he had
"liké" a certain item. His use of the Facebook "thumbs-up"
sign helped those of us who have trouble with English verbs conjugated in
French. Now the only thing I still need to find out is how to
pronounce "liker".

Do you say like-ay or leek-ay?

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

(*) Read about Easter in Provence in my book Taking Root in Provence by clicking here:

The French bureaucracy does boggle the mind, de temps en temps. I read an article today in The Telegraph (UK) about the 400,000 "norms" including bakers having to measure baguettes! Never mind, I still want to live there!Anne-Marie, I loved your book and know I will refer to it many times over. I noticed that your individual pieces were listed on the Bonjour Paris website. Brilliant! Happy Easter!

Thank you, Patricia. Yes - some of my early pieces have appeared on Bonjour Paris.As for the dreaded French bureaucracy, other than the cost and effort to obtain a French driver's license, we have found it quite manageable. I think the trick is: don't work here. :-) A-M

About Me

About us, rather: Anne-Marie has worked as a translator, teacher, journalist, sportswriter (covering Formula 1 races), and director of corporate communications. She followed her husband Oscar into early retirement in 1998.
Oscar made his career in international development banking and since moving to Provence has become an expert on Provençal cooking.
Anne-Marie has written two books: Ten Years in Provence (2008 - out of print) and Taking Root in Provence (2011 - Distinction Press, Vermont).